Ellinas leads Dillmann on final day in Spain

Tio Ellinas returned to his Strakka Racing seat for the first time since the season finale of the Formula Renault 3.5 Series season for the final day of the Formula 3.5 V8 test at Motorland Aragon on Friday and finished on top of the timing screens.

The Cypriot racer, twice a winner in 2015 and part of the Strakka development programme, set a time of 1m40.686s to sit just ahead of day two pacesetter Tom Dillmann, who continued his testing programme with AVF onto the final day of the three-day test at the Spanish circuit.

Ellinas and Dillmann were the only drivers to dip beneath the 1m41s barrier on Friday, with Kevin Jörg third quickest with a time of 1m41.068s for the Charouz-run Lotus team.

Dean Stoneman returned to the Carlin team for the final day after the team did not take part on day two, with the Red Bull-backed Briton ending fourth quickest, just ahead of Egor Orudzhev, who continued his allegiance with Arden Motorsport.

Alfonso Celis Jr confirmed AVF’s pace with the sixth fastest time on the final day, just ahead of 2015 Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 Series runner-up Louis Deletraz of Fortec Motorsport, while Jake Hughes moved across from Strakka Racing to Carlin for the final day of the test and placed eighth.

Yu Kanamaru, who has run every day of the testing season with Pons Racing so far, ended ninth, while Callum Ilott, another Red Bull-backed driver, tested with Strakka Racing and finished the day tenth quickest.

Swedish driver Jimmy Eriksson, who is competing in the GP3 Series in 2015, took part in the days running for Arden Motorsport, ending eleventh, just ahead of 2015 Eurocup champion Jack Aitken of Fortec Motorsports.